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My First Day as CIA Director

February 22, 2018

Former CIA analyst and founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Ray McGovern, in this tongue-in-cheek article, outlines steps he would take on Day One as CIA Director to get to the bottom of Russiagate.

By Ray McGovern

Now that I have been nominated again – this time by author Paul Craig Roberts – to be CIA director, I am preparing to hit the ground running.

Ray McGovern

Last time my name was offered in nomination for the position – by The Nation publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel – I did not hold my breath waiting for a call from the White House. Her nomination came in the afterglow of my fortuitous, four-minute debate with then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, when I confronted him on his lies about the attack on Iraq, on May 4, 2006 on national TV. Since it was abundantly clear that Rumsfeld and I would not get along, I felt confident I had royally disqualified myself.

This time around, on the off-chance I do get the nod, I have taken the time to prepare the agenda for my first few days as CIA director. Here’s how Day One looks so far:

Get former National Security Agency Technical Director William Binney back to CIA to join me and the “handpicked” CIA analysts who, with other “handpicked” analysts (as described by former National Intelligence Director James Clapper on May 8, 2017) from the FBI and NSA, prepared the so-called Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) of Jan. 6, 2017. That evidence-impoverished assessment argued the case that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his minions “to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton.”

When my predecessor, CIA Director Mike Pompeo invited Binney to his office on Oct. 24, 2017 to discuss cyber-attacks, he told Pompeo that he had been fed a pack of lies on “Russian hacking” and that he could prove it. Why Pompeo left that hanging is puzzling, but I believe this is the kind of low-hanging fruit we should pick pronto.

The low-calorie Jan. 6 ICA was clumsily cobbled together:

“We assess with high confidence that Russian military intelligence … used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks.”

Binney and other highly experienced NSA alumni, as well as other members of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), drawing on their intimate familiarity with how the technical systems and hacking work, have been saying for a year and a half that this CIA/FBI/NSA conclusion is a red herring, so to speak. Last summer, the results of forensic investigation enabled VIPS to apply the principles of physics and the known capacity of the internet to confirm that conclusion.

Oddly, the FBI chose not to do forensics on the so-called “Russian hack” of the Democratic National Committee computers and, by all appearances, neither did the drafters of the ICA.

Again, Binney says that the main conclusions he and his VIPS colleagues reached are based largely on principles of physics – simple ones like fluid dynamics. I want to hear what that’s all about, how that applies to the “Russian hack,” and hear what my own CIA analysts have to say about that.

I will have Binney’s clearances updated to remove any unnecessary barriers to a no-holds-barred discussion at a highly classified level. After which I shall have a transcript prepared, sanitized to protect sources and methods, and promptly released to the media.

Like Sisyphus Up the Media Mountain

At that point things are bound to get very interesting. Far too few people realize that they get a very warped view on such issues from the New York Times. And, no doubt, it would take some time, for the Times and other outlets to get used to some candor from the CIA, instead of the far more common tendentious leaks. In any event, we will try to speak truth to the media – as well as to power.

I happen to share the view of the handful of my predecessor directors who believed we have an important secondary obligation to do what we possibly can to inform/educate the public as well as the rest of the government – especially on such volatile and contentious issues like “Russian hacking.”

What troubles me greatly is that the NYT and other mainstream print and TV media seem to be bloated with the thin gruel-cum-Kool Aid they have been slurping at our CIA trough for a year and a half; and then treating the meager fare consumed as some sort of holy sacrament. That goes in spades for media handling of the celebrated ICA of Jan. 6, 2017 cobbled together by those “handpicked” analysts from CIA, FBI, and NSA. It is, in all candor, an embarrassment to the profession of intelligence analysis and yet, for political reasons, it has attained the status of Holy Writ.

The Paper of (Dubious) Record

I recall the banner headline spanning the top of the entire front page of the NYT on Jan. 7, 2017: “Putin Led Scheme to Aid Trump, Report Says;” and the electronic version headed “Putin Led a Complex Cyberattack Scheme to Aid Trump, Report Finds.” I said to myself sarcastically, “Well there you go! That’s exactly what Mrs. Clinton – not to mention the NY Times, the Washington Post and The Establishment – have been saying for many months.”

Buried in that same edition of the Times was a short paragraph by Scott Shane: “What is missing from the public report is what many Americans most eagerly anticipated: hard evidence to back up the agencies’ claims that the Russian government engineered the election attack. That is a significant omission.”

Omission? No hard evidence? No problem. The publication of the Jan. 6, 2017 assessment got the ball rolling. And Democrats like Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, were kicking the ball hard down the streets of Washington. On Jan. 25, 2017, I had a chance to confront Schiff personally about the lack of evidence — something that even Obama had acknowledged just before slipping out the door. I think our two-minute conversation speaks volumes.

Now I absolutely look forward to dealing with Adam Schiff from my new position as CIA director. I will ask him to show me the evidence of “Russian hacking” that he said he could not show me on Jan. 25, 2017 – on the chance his evidence includes more than reports from the New York Times.

Sources

Intelligence analysts put great weight, of course, on sources. The authors of the lede, banner-headlined NYT article of Jan. 7, 2017 were Michael D. Shear and David E. Sanger; Sanger has had a particularly checkered career, while always landing on his feet. Despite his record of parroting CIA handouts (or perhaps partly because of it), Sanger is now the NYT’s chief Washington correspondent.

Those whose memories go back more than 15 years may recall his promoting weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as flat fact. In a July 29, 2002 article co-written with Them Shanker, for example, Iraq’s (non-existent) “weapons of mass destruction” appear no fewer than seven times as flat fact.

More instructive still, in May 2005, when first-hand documentary evidence from the now-famous “Downing Street Memorandum” showed that President George W. Bush had decided by early summer 2002 to attack Iraq, the NYT ignored it for six weeks until David Sanger rose to the occasion with a tortured report claiming just the opposite. The title given his article of June 13 2005 was “Prewar British Memo Says War Decision Wasn’t Made.”

Against this peculiar reporting record, I was not inclined to take at face value the Jan. 7, 2017 report he co-authored with Michael D. Shear – “Putin Led a Complex Cyberattack Scheme to Aid Trump, Report Finds.”

Nor am I inclined to take seriously former National Intelligence Director James Clapper’s stated views on the proclivity of Russians to be, well, just really bad people — like it’s in their genes. I plan to avail myself of the opportunity to discover whether intelligence analysts who labored under his “aegis” were infected by his quaint view of the Russians.

I shall ask any of the “handpicked” analysts who specialize in analysis of Russia (and, hopefully, there are at least a few): Do you share Clapper’s view, as he explained it to NBC’s Meet the Press on May 30, 2017, that Russians are “typically, almost genetically driven to co-opt, penetrate, gain favor, whatever”? I truly do not know what to expect by way of reply.

End of Day One

In sum, my priority for Day One is to hear both sides of the story regarding “Russian hacking” with all cards on the table. All cards. That means no questions are out of order, including what, if any, role the “Steele dossier” may have played in the preparation of the Jan. 6, 2017 assessment.

I may decide to seek some independent, disinterested technical input, as well. But it should not take me very long to figure out which of the two interpretations of alleged “Russian hacking” is more straight-up fact-based and unbiased. That done, in the following days I shall brief both the Chair, Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and ranking member Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee, as well as the Chair and ranking member of its counterpart in the Senate. I will then personally brief the NYT’s David Sanger and follow closely what he and his masters decide to do with the facts I present.

On the chance that the Times and other media might decide to play it straight, and that the “straight” diverges from the prevailing, Clapperesque narrative of Russian perfidy, the various mainstream outlets will face a formidable problem of their own making. Mark Twain put it this way: “It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.”

And that will probably be enough for Day One.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Savior in inner-city Washington. He served 30 years as an U.S. Army Intelligence and CIA analyst, and in retirement co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

In addition to “handpicked” intelligence analysts, the US has “handpicked” media reporters and editors. The “handpicked” media people are well-documented to be covering up for Israel, and the Russia-hack theory is clearly distracting from the massive Israeli influence on US elections. So it all looks like another US Liberty case, which is to say, another cover-up by the Israelis.

Here is something you may be interested in. Please research Operation Susannah.

JWalters

February 28, 2018 at 2:21 am

Thanks, very interesting.

JWalters

February 28, 2018 at 2:22 am

Thanks. Interesting case.

Daniel

February 24, 2018 at 2:18 am

I’ve enjoyed Ray’s interviews and writing since I first saw his confrontation with Rumsfeld. And his work on this RUSSIA!!! hysteria has been terrific.

But how “reformed” is this 27-year career CIA analyst? After all, he joined CIA before JFK’s murder, and yet dismissed any suggestion of CIA involvement until 2009, after he was given a copy of “JFK And The Unspeakable,” (James Douglass’s excellent book on the Kennedy brothers’ evolution once in the White house.

And other than citing that book, I haven’t seen him take advantage of his many CIA contacts to generate any additional information on CIA’s possible role in a domestic coup d’état.

And I’ve never read or heard him say a word about CIA’s long history of drug running.

Is it possible for someone to be a CIA insider for almost 3 decades, and not be aware of both of those long-reported associations?

Drew Hunkins

February 22, 2018 at 4:08 pm

If you have time, be sure to visit OpEdNews and read the recent debate between Feffer and Mate.

It’s a stunning and extremely disturbing display of how smart liberals — Feffer — can very cleverly distort and obfuscate in order to push a propaganda line against the independent Putin admin. This Feffer guy, an intelligent guy (but a big propagandist of course), actually buys into all of the Russia-gate malarkey.

This debate will leave you fuming. Feffer actually goes to the extent of calling Putin a racist and that Putin’s fomenting racism in the United States. I’m not making this up.

It is a must-read for all CN enthusiasts. To make the Captain Obvious point: the liberal Russia-gaters are currently pulling out all the stops and are slickly peddling each and every argument they can muster in each and every forum possible. We may be fighting a losing battle.

Helen Marshall

February 22, 2018 at 7:20 pm

It’s hard to argue any longer that we “may” be fighting a losing battle. Even the editorial cartoonists are lining up to whack Russia. If you try to have a debate about this, even with ostensibly well-informed friends (e.g. retired FSOs) you are slammed as a traitor, a RussiaBot, or a moron, or all three.

Drew Hunkins

February 22, 2018 at 9:16 pm

Exactly Helen Marshall, it’s truly frightening what’s occurring. I written this before on CN: but it almost has an ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ feel to it all.

Sam F

February 22, 2018 at 9:30 pm

The good news is that they have found nothing, so the future, and their own children, will ridicule this nearly universal groupthink. It is far more extensive and groundless than the McCarthy witch-hunts, which no one has credited for generations. This may take years to fully pass, but it will discredit the US mass media, fake patriots, and fake liberals far into the future.

Drew Hunkins

February 22, 2018 at 9:41 pm

Very astute points Sam F. It’s all very nice to hear. And of course I hope you’re correct.

This is being extremely optimistic that there will be a future in which this could happen. I see the seeming delusion, by the people heedlessly pushing for war with Russia, that limited nuclear exchanges or even first strikes without major consequences are a possibility or that the Russians are certain to be defeated militarily one way or the other. This howling insanity is making it far more likely, than even during the last Cold War, that we will suffer some major civilisational catastrophe.

It’s even been suggested by one journalist published in the NYT that Nuclear Winter was a hoax of the dastardly (Soviet) Russians to weaken our resolve against them. You’d think such drivel would be an aberration, but these things proliferate lately. I live in Australia and we may escape the immediate worst if the Chinese don’t get drawn in, but I’m mindful of ending up On the Beach. Cassandra, eat your heart out.

Drew Hunkins

February 23, 2018 at 3:13 am

Yup, you make some very valid and trenchant arguments. Enjoy the Land Down Under.

Sam F

February 23, 2018 at 8:27 am

I do not suggest that the discrediting will be universal, nor that it will prevent a recurrence, let alone solve the underlying problem. Indeed the catastrophe to empire is inevitable unless it is first reformed from within. That would require many US military defeats, economic isolation, and collapsed bubbles, to anger the domestic victims for generations, to the point of infiltrating the national guard and police and armed services to deny power to oligarchy. Certainly not less than forty years, but inevitable within a century. The exact course of catastrophic events is too unpredictable to neglect to consider the natural decline of corrupted and overreaching empires.

Believe me, Dominic, the Chinese will be drawn in – the current battle in the US seems to be between those who want to nuke the Russians first and those who’d rather go after the Chinese. Difficult, of course, to quantify, but the odds on humanity making it through the next decade seem very low indeed….

My best to Kassandra !

Henri

Dave P.

February 23, 2018 at 4:07 am

Sam F., I completely agree with what you said. But that far in the future may not come. This Russian hysteria has taken hold over the whole land and most of its people, including this home and many liberal people I know. They all get the news from TV, and believe that Russia has interfered in 2016 U.S. elections, leading to Hillary’s defeat. How does the Ruling Establishment plan to end this? I don’t see any other scenario except that they want to start a serious conflict with Russia. The sanctions, this media and verbal warfare, and the ratcheting up the pressure in ME are just the beginning.

Drew and Ray,
Also check out the debate between Glenn Greenwald and Jim Risen moderated by Jeremy Scahill on the latest Intercepted. I found Risen’s thinking very scary. He kept asking Glenn what he “believes” about Russia-gate and Glenn kept arguing that journalists need to focus on “evidence”. Risen seemed unable to grasp what Glenn kept arguing; from my point of view this is why he kept trying to undermine Glenn’s reputation and work.
Ray, I wish you were CIA Director!!!

Drew Hunkins

February 23, 2018 at 3:11 am

Thanks Ms. Lee, I’ll definitely check it out.

Joe Tedesky

February 22, 2018 at 4:34 pm

Ray if it were possible that you could become the new CIA Director, well what a glorious day it would be for America, and a day to remember as the swamp would finally be starting to get drained.

Although Ray, it would be good to have you in that CIA position, you would be hard pressed going up against the MSM, and your fellow counterparts the FBI, and the NSA, but Ray I know that between you and the other VIPS that you all could figure this one out, so I’ll place my stone on the side of the confident and hopeful. The medicine for America would be for you to tell the truth, as such as you stated in this article.

I would also hope that as new acting CIA Director that you would take the Allen Dulles out of the agency, and replace it with a strictly data informed function. That’s right, no more recruiting from the ranks of the graduating ‘Skull and Crossbones’ society, and no more Yale ivy elite to clutter up the agency. Only matters of espionage would be the agency’s new function, and not making plans to overthrow a democratic elected government, or any other kind of government for that matter. America shouldn’t be left to be the sole cop of the world, and our CIA should reflect that, enough with this over arching hegemony project.

Ray my dream would come true to see an American President appoint such people as you. I have often thought to how Paul Craig Roberts and David Stockman should be somewhere inside of our Treasury Department trying to figure out this financial mess we are all worried about, or at least I am. I would love to see appear the likes of Chris Hedges, and Robert Parry’s writings could darn well serve our starved for good information country well, to if anyone were to read his great essays and books. I still like Ralph Nader, go ahead and hiss me, but Nader is the real deal, and he would be great at a consumer watchdog position. So, while we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for such an appointment, we can always hope and ponder to what it would be like to have such honesty running the place.

In the end Ray just be who you are, because having you here with us is not only terrifically inspiring but it is beyond priceless. Joe

realOtisPike

February 22, 2018 at 5:01 pm

Not ready to vote for confirmation. Family Jewels II or GTFO!

Daniel

February 24, 2018 at 2:29 am

Thank you, Otis. Did Ray not learn anything from his 3 decades at CIA that might shed some much needed light on that dangerous organization, or is he “controlled opposition” providing a few “limited hangouts?”

Near as I can tell, he didn’t say a word about the Iraq War II lies until a couple years after our invasion… long after it was obvious that there were no WMD. In fact, that was a year after Bush II joked about it at the Correspondents Dinner with his video searching under couches and behind curtains in the Oval Office for those pesky missing WMD. What a funny joke to the widows and wounded, eh?

And of course, as a patriot who still believes in the necessity of protecting CIA “methods and techniques,” I wouldn’t expect him to just blather on. But one would expect someone so interested in public awareness could have revealed a few of those “Family Jewels.”

mike k

February 22, 2018 at 5:47 pm

Well, you had a pretty busy day one, Ray. I was hoping you would fire a bunch of CIA scumbags, but there’s always day two!

Sam F

February 22, 2018 at 6:17 pm

For once I would have confidence that a secret agency was headed by someone who intends to find the truth and not mislead the public. I hope that you or others will:
1. Investigate the operations division and halt all regime changes, subversions, secret wars, and drone operations unless absolutely necessary for humanitarian purposes, and monitor the gangsters and accomplices for compliance;
2. Investigate and release all information on such matters as the JFK/MLK/RFK assassinations, unwarranted domestic spying, secret wars, false flags, and the true history of the persons and ideologies behind these misdeeds;
3. Set up mechanisms for internal whistleblowing and reporting and investigations that will protect democracy from scoundrels of wealth and influence with secret agendas;
4. Work with NSA, DIA, etc to set up means to isolate and expel appointed disinformation agents such as Perl/Wurmser/Feith who stove-piped fake intelligence to the WH to propagandize for Iraq War II.
5. Give the WH and the people the truth whether they like it or not; get the secret agencies out of the press, and investigate Congress and the Judiciary for corruption.

jose

February 22, 2018 at 8:36 pm

Dear Sam: A great majority of people here in US and worldwide know of have heard about the infamous CIA and its criminal and deceptive practices. This entity is secret for a reason. Just take point number 2 of your list. If the CIA were to disclose all its illegal activities since its inception, I think that not only will destroy the US government, but also those who have cooperated with it. If Mr. McGovern were to discover the CIA involvement in JFK/MLK/RFK assassinations, unwarranted domestic spying, secret wars, false flags, etc, he probably would be removed by those who have most to lose. Remember Sam, it is said that power corrupts and men with power always went more.

Sam F

February 22, 2018 at 9:20 pm

Oh yes, certainly more than one leader would have to direct such a change, and the same would have to be coordinated across the entire executive branch, to rout the corruption from Congress, the Judicial branch, and all executive agencies, and the mass media. Practically, a shadow government operated by a political party would have to take the reins quite forcefully. upon a presidential win. And that is of course dreaming in the presence of universal corruption.

US democracy is not likely to be restored by political action. It will be a slow train wreck much celebrated in the future. But when surprises happen, one should be prepared to do whatever good can be done.

Bob Van Noy

February 22, 2018 at 9:53 pm

Really nicely done Sam F.

What infuriates me the most, is that these corrupt bureaucrats will all draw government pensions and likely premium health care, all at public expense. I think if I were in charge, the first penalty I’d employ is a guarantee that they be disenfranchised of government perks…

In fact Ray, if you set that up, I’ll volunteer for that Department.

Sam F

February 23, 2018 at 9:37 pm

Thank you, Bob. it would be a consolation that none retire comfortably after much corruption.

Gregory Herr

February 22, 2018 at 10:14 pm

Right. If we aren’t prepared to put a foot in a door that slightly cracks open it may shut without our knowing it opened at all.

Mikd-ly - Facetous

February 25, 2018 at 7:09 pm

Meanwhile,our Administrative Agencies are being overseen by Destructive “consignees” who’re hellbent on the annihilation of the Original Purpose of their Federal Agency Authority, which is to oversee Protections of the American people from THE DEGENERATE AMBITIONS of CORPORATIONS which deliberately seek to enrich themselves at the expense of We-The-People.

We are the suckers whose sweat blood and tears enrich them with the CAPITAL they use to BUY politicians who’ll Vote in their favor and at their behest.

If you would’ve paid attention to the Flow of Wealth/Money, you’d correctly discerned Political Power flowing to Vast Right Wing Ideology coming from iconoclasts like Richard Mellon Scythe (Carnegie, Mellon turn-of-the-centuryTycoons). —
— That conglomeration of wealthy {right-wing} industrialists were faced down by FDR by/with his “Economic Bill of Rights” which he produced after/during ‘The Great Depression’ in the 1930’s.
Some of you know this / many more of you (I suspect) don’t, an [the] American knowledge of history is despicable @ best / deployable @ worst. (so many distractions … .)

So, Trump is the MAGA “Final Solution” for the dissolving / devolution of Actual Administrative Government For (in favor of) The People — (in favor of) a Government For (in favor of) The Rich.

The slogan of the 60’s – ” power to the people ” has effectively been bombed into oblivion with with /by the wealth of billionaires / millionaires PURCHASE of POLITICIANS’ votes —- Just as Plantation Owners Purchased Slaves at Southern Slave Markets — The History of These Markets Still Exist in Alabama, Louisiana, and other Plantation States,
for all you ignorant denial-ist, Pro-Confederate Trump supporters !!!

real capitalists are the perversion of democracy
It has been made clear in the voices of
Florida Students against 2nd Amendment
“rights” to own AR- 15 MILITARY WEAPONS

MILITARY WEAPONS OUGHT NOT BE A “CIVIL RIGHT” !!!!!!
(Don’t be Overtaken in a Fault…)

Truly great article; great approach to topic! Wish I had had it earlier today for an email I wrote a “friend” stating many of those facts. But my friends, like so many others, don’t know what high confidence means, who Clapper is, what a flash drive is, the difference between hacking and stealing information, nor do they have any interest in learning. (They still even say 17 agencies.) Nor do they pay any attention to the CONTENT of the DNC emails, nor ask why the FBI didn’t check those computers. And so much more.

The most desirable place on earth for most Americans right now is to have their heads in the sand. That has never appealed to me. Do they come up for air? Probably not.

Shall we all call the White House suggesting Ray for this appointment?

JWalters

February 22, 2018 at 11:16 pm

It seems to me the story is too complicated for a typical conversation. I think there’s more hope with a few links (over time) to easily readable, compelling presentations of hard facts. Good luck with those friends.

Bob Van Noy

February 23, 2018 at 9:54 am

JWalters I had a thought regarding this general line of thinking about the conversation.

Years ago I realized that one great strength that Alan Dulles possessed was his very literate ability to create fiction, in fact it is still a primary weapon used across the media as propaganda. Ray McGovern has employed it here to help extend his thoughts into a broader audience. Sam F. has used his fine sense of justice to project potential into a possible more just future. In this way, we can imagine futures that may be possible. This is a brilliant tactic because it projects the general conversation forward.

I remember as a teen that Walt Disney would report on the progress of Disneyland’s construction with graphics, movies, and commentary. I was particularly captured by his concept of “The Plausible Impossible” and, of course, that is what he ultimately created.
The same is true of contemporary virtual reality.

So I think that Ray has discovered a way of projecting the conversation to a broader audience, which is a significant insight…

Virginia

February 24, 2018 at 1:33 am

Right you are, JWalters. Excerpts on whatever the misunderstood issue is, addressing that alone, makes the best case.

D S

February 22, 2018 at 8:02 pm

Don’t stop now. I want day 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Well just go on as long as you want. Ray McGovern as CIA Director — what a dream come true.

jose

February 22, 2018 at 8:20 pm

I would like to suggest in a humble way to Mr. McGovern to use common sense when analyzing the following incontrovertible and honest facts: this administration has already killed Russians in Syria, greatly escalated nuclear tensions with Russia, allowed the sale of arms to Ukraine (a move Obama refused for fear of angering Moscow), established a permanent military presence in Syria with the goal of effecting regime change, forced RT and Sputnik to register as foreign agents, expanded NATO with the addition of Montenegro, assigned Russia hawk Kurt Volker as special representative to Ukraine, shut down a Russian consulate in San Francisco and expelled Russian diplomats as part of continued back-and-forth hostile diplomatic exchanges. If he were logical and honest in his approach, he will conclude that Russia-gate is a complete farce perfect for comical relief. I have been following this story and I yet to see solid evidence that Putin ordered any meddling in US election. I rest my case.

The crows and Vultures are starving from trying to survive on imaginary Russians…time to fill the gibbets with some real meat…

cant wait for day 2…lol

regards

D

AM

February 22, 2018 at 8:33 pm

Ray McGovern concludes with: “It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.” It’s sad that he lacks the introspection to observe Mark Twain on the supernatural mumbo-jumbo that is Christianity.

Anon

February 22, 2018 at 9:23 pm

You have no basis for any assertion of better introspection, and no Mark Twain quote. Why not?

Daniel

February 24, 2018 at 2:40 am

While Twain’s alleged full-bodied atheism is contested, the fact that he abhorred Christianity is quite well documented.

This website was the first to pop up in my search engine, and takes a moderate stance on the issue. Atheist sites provide more citations to his having been an atheist or at least an agnostic.

Elegant, accurate, precise, and unvarnished facts are evident in Mr. McGovern’s writing. If there’s any doubt about the dominant narratives, seek evidence and verify the sources. No more hiding behind “classified” excuses. But of course, TPTB won’t allow an honest assessment of anything because it will reveal their lies and manipulation.

BobS

February 22, 2018 at 9:21 pm

So, to be clear, your resume would include providing intelligence briefs to the Reagan administration during the years it was responsible for over 100,000 deaths in Central America (I think I remember Robert Parry writing a bit on the subject)? The same years that same administration was doing it’s ‘Chicken Little’ routine with respect to Soviet military might so as to gain approval for increasing our own military budget (and deficit)? Then, of course, there was that little matter of Iran-Contra…
I don’t remember reading of your principled resignation in disgust at what the agency you drew your paycheck from was doing.
However, to be fair, you did become somewhat of a grandstanding ‘truthteller’ once your pension was safely secured. Take a well-deserved bow, Ray.

Anon

February 22, 2018 at 9:24 pm

False criticism as always from the BS troll. Please do not feed the trolls.

BobS

February 22, 2018 at 9:29 pm

Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Ray.

Joe Tedesky

February 22, 2018 at 11:36 pm

BobS your lack of any kind of real credibility around here on this site helps promote Ray in many more ways thank you know. Just thought I’d help ya out there old troll buddy who isn’t a troll. Wow, that’s scary BobS that you are a troll who isn’t a troll, but anyway take it easy. Joe

JWalters

February 22, 2018 at 11:21 pm

Sounds like a Zionist troll. They routinely ignore the case at hand by attacking the writer. And they routinely lie in doing that. Zero credibility.

I’l second Ray’s nomination…there are many people here that at one time had to shut up to keep their jobs….it’s not the same as throwing someone under the bus to advance one’s position.

Gregory Herr

February 22, 2018 at 10:34 pm

So are the analysts who put together the PDB that stated bin Laden was “determined to strike inside U.S.” culpable for 9/11?
You have no idea the gist of McGovern’s analyses and to what effect they did or did not have on policy.

Gregory Herr

February 22, 2018 at 10:37 pm

My hunch about that particular PDB about bin Laden is that the CIA was priming the public record as part of the setup.

Gregory Herr

February 22, 2018 at 10:02 pm

That’s right, let’s put all the cards on the table and be done with the sham of “Russia stole our election” for once and for all. Let’s involve our vaunted vainglories at the Times with some revised revisitation and see if they can handle having some ‘splaining to do.

I love the idea of an in-house point-blank assessment of Clapperian Russiology. Debriefings to the public should be aired on Meet the Press. Clapper should be embarrassed for attempting to impersonate intelligence.
And by no means let’s not spare the rod of truth when it comes to Congress as well. No more hiding behind unnecessary “classifications”.

Just one thing Mr. McGovern…I’m told on good authority that Obama slithered out (while giving us “the slip”).

Robert Hope

February 22, 2018 at 10:04 pm

Brilliance. So sad that they’ve done this to us.
Hopefully the unknown unknowns win:-)

mike k

February 22, 2018 at 10:22 pm

Lying and cheating are forms of violence. They hurt other’s ability to trust and ascertain truth. Thus they are very serious and deeply wounding behaviors. To distort and misrepresent the truth is a very serious crime against an essential component of our possible salvation. Verbal abuse can be just as traumatic and damaging as physical or sexual abuse. Right speech is essential to the spiritual life, to violate it is to go off the path. Mindfulness of our speech is very important. Is what I speak truthful and loving? This is a crucial practice.

Realist

February 22, 2018 at 10:23 pm

Would Trump ever be wise or courageous enough to make an appointment like that? And would the Senate ever be fair and impartial enough to confirm it? Seems to me, all the patrons of the latter would have a lot to lose. Their interests cannot withstand the truth, so we will never receive it. One can dream, however.

Lolita

February 23, 2018 at 2:57 am

Brilliant!

BobS

February 23, 2018 at 6:32 am

So Ray, were you friendly with any of those folks who enabled the murderers of Oscar Romero, Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donavan, or about 100,000 other civilians in Central America?
You seem proud of your closeness with them in your bio.

Daniel Guyot

February 23, 2018 at 9:44 am

Great candidacy!

I like that article, I like Consortiumnews, Robert Parry and Ray McGovern, just as I like the idea of truth and justice. By the way the same Russian – yes, Russian – word “Pravda” means truth and justice.

But it is very idealistic. As quoted by Ray, and as Mr. Twain put it , “It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.”

There is a big difference between “knowing something” and “believing something”. In order to believe, that “Russians did it”, no need of evidence. That is probably why Russian bashing, just like racism or antisemitism, is so irrational. That is why, what is now happening in America is so frightening.

Daniel, Paris, Moscow

Obi-jonKenobi

February 23, 2018 at 11:27 am

Ray focuses only on the hacking issue like it’s the Rosetta Stone of the Russia connection. Granted it’s important to examine for possible duplicity by our intelligence community and their servile press but there are many more Russian connections to Trump and the election than just the hacking drama, isn’t there? Just among the Trump cronies alone the connections – and the lies about them – is very curious indeed.

Yes, of course there is the possibility both the intelligence community and the servile press have created a make-belive scenario, a feed-back loop where they’ve possibly even deceived themselves. But, like any crime, one of the biggest questions is always motive. Is this knee-jerk, cold-war redux by people like Clapper incapable of any other view? Could be. Is this supposed to be a gaslighting operation to serve the Hillary/DNC crowd and knee-cap Trump? If so, why wasn’t it revealed to the public before the election. What was revealed was more of the Hillary email “scandal” while the Trump/Russia connection remained hidden from public view. Not exactly what you’d see if the intelligence community was trying to put their thumb on the scale.

So, let’s find out what’s happening here but by no means is unraveling the hacking story going to get to the bottom of this, there’s way more going on than that.

Jongyoung rhee

February 23, 2018 at 1:52 pm

Please contact fbi and check your e-mail, please. It is a big thing to report. Tens of millions of dollars

Tom

February 23, 2018 at 2:02 pm

Suggestion. If he wants to maintain his credibility, please stay away from racist sites like Lyndon LaRouche, Alex Jones and others. I’ve heard McGovern say more than once that he has no problem with Trump. How could he have no problem with a notorious racist who takes NRA blood money? He’s entitled to his opinion. But saying things like this and hanging out with these people severely damages his credibility. No wonder then he has such a horrible time getting interviews with major news sources, talk shows and web sites.

Not in your dreams have you ever heard me say that. What I have said publicly many times is that I think Trump is the worst president ever … and there is plenty to impeach him for, but not made-up stuff — dangerous stuff designed, in part, to assist what Pope Francis called the “blood-soaked arms traders” by creating unnecessary tension with Russia.

You are NOT entitled to your own facts, Tom. Please let the rest of us know when you think you heard me say I have “no trouble with Trump.”

Or apologize.

Ray McGovern

Mikd-ly - Facetous

February 25, 2018 at 7:16 pm

Miid -ly – Facetous
February 25, 2018 at 7:09 pm
Meanwhile,our Administrative Agencies are being overseen by Destructive “consignees” who’re hellbent on the annihilation of the Original Purpose of their Federal Agency Authority, which is to oversee Protections of the American people from THE DEGENERATE AMBITIONS of CORPORATIONS which deliberately seek to enrich themselves at the expense of We-The-People.

We are the suckers whose sweat blood and tears enrich them with the CAPITAL they use to BUY politicians who’ll Vote in their favor and at their behest.

If you would’ve paid attention to the Flow of Wealth/Money, you’d correctly discerned Political Power flowing to Vast Right Wing Ideology coming from iconoclasts like Richard Mellon Scythe (Carnegie, Mellon turn-of-the-centuryTycoons). —
— That conglomeration of wealthy {right-wing} industrialists were faced down by FDR by/with his “Economic Bill of Rights” which he produced after/during ‘The Great Depression’ in the 1930’s.
Some of you know this / many more of you (I suspect) don’t, an [the] American knowledge of history is despicable @ best / deployable @ worst. (so many distractions … .)

So, Trump is the MAGA “Final Solution” for the dissolving / devolution of Actual Administrative Government For (in favor of) The People — (in favor of) a Government For (in favor of) The Rich.

The slogan of the 60’s – ” power to the people ” has effectively been bombed into oblivion with with /by the wealth of billionaires / millionaires PURCHASE of POLITICIANS’ votes —- Just as Plantation Owners Purchased Slaves at Southern Slave Markets — The History of These Markets Still Exist in Alabama, Louisiana, and other Plantation States,
for all you ignorant denial-ist, Pro-Confederate Trump supporters !!!

real capitalists are the perversion of democracy
It has been made clear in the voices of
Florida Students against 2nd Amendment
“rights” to own AR- 15 MILITARY WEAPONS

MILITARY WEAPONS OUGHT NOT BE A “CIVIL RIGHT” !!!!!!
(Don’t be Overtaken in a Fault…)

McGovern continues to regularly appear on RT and Sputnik Radio. If they’re so great, how come RT America is constantly losing American reporters? Why do they consistently quit after a short period of time? There has to be a valid reason.

Daniel

February 24, 2018 at 3:04 am

You’re making that up. Abby Martin and Thom hartmann both quit on amicable terms, and both said repeatedly that RT never once imposed on their complete editorial freedom. Never once did RT suggest a story nor how to present any story they chose to cover. In fact, all the journalists at RT I’ve ever heard have said the same. Abby famously criticized Putin on air, and said it was never even mentioned to her for the next year she worked there.

In fact, that complete freedom has been cited as the main reason so many USAmerican journalists and commentators chose to work there. And every guest I’ve heard has said that RT never once did a “pre-interview” to make sure what the guest planned to say fit with the station’s goals, which is routinely done at EVERY US “news” station.

You no doubt are thinking about Liz Wahl, who famously quit on air. What you may not know is that she coordinated that bit of theater with the Foreign Policy Initiative, a neoconservative think tank in Washington D.C.

As another famous conservative news commentator used to say, here’s “The Rest Of The Story:

While we can hope that movies are being planned such as “JFK” and “On the Beach” that will inspire the masses to focus and share their “movie going experiences” as of previous eras resulting in revised perspectives, it seems that the “media powers” will continue to promote violence, “virtue signaling” and identity politics, along with the manipulation techniques which seem to have been so effective for most residents of the Northern Urban Centers and the West Coast (along with Northern Europe) which were the meccas of my generation seeking “comrades” with “eyes wide open”! The “New Progressive Movement” of Sen. Elizabeth Warren has proved to be “fake”, and perhaps people are beginning to realize why “Mark Twain” was so critical of the “Progressives” of his era! Let’s not limit our objectives to the intelligence community! Fundamental changes are needed in education and especially in the schools of journalism and media, and a most drastic “revision of History” must address the failures of foreign policies so well addressed by Robert Parry in his writings. I hope that Ray McGovern will advocate for conferences around the country of truth tellers discussing the conflicts around the world, the failures of the previous and the present Presidential Administrations, and actions necessary for the promotion of harmony on all levels from individuals to international alliances. Maybe Hillary’s final effort to promote attendance at her rallies with entertainment could be assessed to plan for participation at conferences which have the “whole package” of fun and excitement and expectations of the era of my youth!

Marshall, please find or arrange those conferences, and send me in. I can also sing. ray

HopeLB

February 23, 2018 at 10:02 pm

Marshall Smith, I whole heartedly agree about your point about education as evidenced by the number of my acquaintances/friends (Phd’s in Science) completely buying the MSM’s year long Rooski scare/fairytale. I know only one person who does not “believe” and he teaches rhetoric at a fine University and reports that his students’ eyes were indeed made “WIDE OPEN” by his course and that when he runs into them, even years later, they are astonished at how often they are able to see through the b.s. continually being foisted. (My point is that we desperately need, a nationwide Teach-in/Series of Ted like talks on rhetoric/argument so US citizens are armed with the skills to question what they are being told. These kids coming up are particularly in need of this education having undergone the abysmal/deficient-by-design Common Core. (Agnotology for all!)

Skip Scott

February 24, 2018 at 8:36 am

HopeLB-

I had a course in Logic in college, and it too gave me a good nose for BS that I’ve retained ever since. I also studied “Media Ecology” which was a brainchild of Neil Postman at NYU. He and Marshall McLuhan do a great job in revealing the power of propaganda in media. I would love to see this stuff taught in public schools starting at the High School level.

Ray can spill the beans right here. I’d love to also hear his thoughts on JFK.

Mild-ly - Faceitous

February 25, 2018 at 8:31 pm

I hope that Ray McGovern will advocate for conferences around the country of truth tellers discussing the conflicts around the world, the failures of the previous and the present Presidential Administrations, and actions necessary for the promotion of harmony on all levels from individuals to international alliances.

I hope that Ray would go back to his advocacy and championing of inner-city despicable policing w/and the “school-to-prison-pipeline” that affects ALL of the underprivileged in Our PURPOSED POCKETS of POVERTY and Designated “UNDER-PRIVILEGED/HOMELESS” Pockets Unbefitting the “United States of America”.

WHY DO WE ALLOW THE PERDUE PHARMACY CORPORATION TO PRODUCE & GAIN VAST WEALTH AND POLITICAL POWER FROM THE PRODUCTION OF A KNOWN ADDICTIVE DRUG THAT INCAPACITATES & DESTROYS / MURDERS IT’S USERS??????

WHY ARE WE DEFUNDING PUBLIC EDUCATION !!!??

YOU, Ray McGovern were once a CHAMPION advocate against these de-socializing, debilitating antagonisms against communities of people collected inside “inner-cities”.
I saw you as a champion against the ever-increasing strength of Right Wing wealth & power — the Total Embodiment of their Vast Conspiracy to tear apart the FDR vision of America. —-
THAT Ray McGovern…
What, pray tell, made you change into something that defends a Donald Trump, who disregards/disparages the poor, the immigrant from US funded nations that murder it’s own citizens whom stand and protest against corporate projects that disaffect and/or uproot the indigenous peoples — exactly as We did Native Americans here???!!!

? ? Ray McGovern…?
Have you made an ABOUT FACE !! against the person you were in DC, a staunch advocate for the disempowered and disaffected?

Have you traded your prior dignity into a now advocate for the unscrupulous Donald Trump?

If that be the case, Benedict Arnold is surely in your blood line — and you’ve exposed your true Anglo-Saxon breeding… .

Diamond's Command Responsibility Dossier

February 23, 2018 at 2:35 pm

Actually, Ray is likely to get diverted on his first day as the ultimate bureaucratic emergency supervenes. Alfreda’s got her tit caught in the crimes-against-humanity wringer. It’s getting harder to conceal the CIA torture that extracted the coerced confession of 9/11 patsy KSM. To bring KSM to fake CIA justice she’s been breaking all the rules she made for her rigged tribunals. Panicking CIA torture cowards are threatening to prosecute defense lawyers for obtruding the fruit of the poisoned tree.

KSM in Guantanamo, CIA SIS in the Hague. There’s no statute of limitations on CIA’s universal-jurisdiction crime.

Dr. Ibrahim Soudy

February 23, 2018 at 2:56 pm

I appreciate all of that but still cannot understand how Ray continued to work for an organization called CIA which has done so much damage in many countries around the world and harmed so many people!! AND not only that but he is even willing to go back and be part of the same organization again!!!!

Can a decent person work for a mafia organization (even if that person is NOT part of its crimes)?!

Nancy

February 25, 2018 at 11:49 am

I often have wondered the same thing.

LLewis

February 23, 2018 at 4:04 pm

Sounds like a sensible plan. Would like to see the current Director implement it.

Nancy

February 23, 2018 at 4:23 pm

I think your first act should be to abolish the CIA and investigate its many crimes.

Dr. Ibrahim Soudy

February 23, 2018 at 5:28 pm

THANK YOU. Trouble is Ray himself has worked for 27 years for that criminal organization!!

BobS

February 23, 2018 at 8:16 pm

Ray would be pretty familiar with more than a few of those crimes that were committed at the behest of the Reagan administration, which he so faithfully served.

Daniel

February 24, 2018 at 3:11 am

Ray was with CIA from the last year of John F. Kennedy’s Presidency through to that of George H. W. Bush. So chances are, he knows about a LOT of CIA malfeasance.

Bill

February 23, 2018 at 6:53 pm

The NY Times has totally disgraced itself regarding Russia, and they’re misbehavior continues. They’ve got millions of zombies lapping up each story.

HopeLB

February 23, 2018 at 9:18 pm

Love you Ray McGovern and William Binney! May we in the US be so blessed as to have you and your fellow patriots calling the shots! I bet “Shing City On The Hill” (with maybe Eisenhower’s famous speech on the back) T-shirts would sell out as fast as they could make them! Goo VIPS!!!

“The Trump and Netanyahu governments have a problem: How to start a greatly expanded Middle-Eastern war without having a justifiable reason for one. No doubt they are working hard to solve this urgent problem. If they can’t find a ‘justification’ (which they can’t), they will have to create one (which they will). Or perhaps they will find what they have already created. […]

“All signs point toward an upcoming large-scale Israeli/U.S. attack on Lebanon and Syria, and all the sycophantic mainstream media are in the kitchen prepping for the feast. […]

“Anyone with half a brain can see the greatly increased anti-Russian propaganda of the past few weeks. This has happened as the Russia-gate claims have fallen to pieces, as former CIA analyst Raymond McGovern, the late Robert Parry, Paul Craig Roberts, and others have documented so assiduously. All across the media spectrum, from the big name corporate stenographers like The New York Times, CNN, National Public Radio, The Washington Post to The Atlantic and Nation magazines and other ‘leftist’ publications such as Mother Jones and Who What Why, the Russia and Putin bashing has become hysterical in tone, joined as it is with an anti-Trump obsession, as if Trump were a dear friend of Putin and Russia and wasn’t closely allied with the Netanyahu government in its plans for the Middle-East. As if Trump were in charge. […]

“Only someone totally lacking a sense of humor and blind to propaganda would not laugh uproariously at today’s media nonsense about Russia, but such laughter would be infused with a foreboding awareness that as the Middle East explodes and U.S./NATO backed Kiev forces prepare to attack the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, the world is entering a very dangerous period. […]

“We are moving toward a global war that will become nuclear if an international ant-war movement doesn’t quickly arise to stop it. Most people bemoan the thought of such a war to end all wars, but refuse to analyze the factors leading to it. It happens step-by-step, and many steps have already been taken with more coming soon. It’s so obvious that most can’t see it, or don’t want to. The corporate main stream media are enemies of the truth; are clearly part of the continuation of the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird, and those who still rely on them for the truth are beyond reach.”

Ray: Reportedly you have resigned from the Council on Foreign Relations. Will there be a tell-all book?

In view of Matt Agorist’s bombshell revelation that the CFR influenced more media than the Trilateral Commission, I would think a contributor to progressive sites – which are under attack – such as CN, who possessed knowledge of the inner workings of such an evil org as the CFR, would immediately get to work on such a project if he (or…) were able to. Unless oaths taken are a problem. If they are, then are you really ‘out’?

Arby, you’re kidding, right? The Council on Foreign Relations would nnt touch me with a ten-foot Pole….or with a twelve-foot Czech, for that matter.

My Irish grandmother warned me — more than once — about the “upper crust,” which she describe as “a bunch of crumbs held together by a lot of dough.”

I “resigned” from the CFR??? Oh, did I, then? A good one, Arby. Wherever did you hear that? I’m tempted to laugh, but actually I’m offended that you thought I would hang out with that kind of crowd. Another saying of grandma Jane was, “Show me your company, and i’ll tell you who your are.”

A person has to have some standards. Otherwise, one is likely to feel compelled to look for Russians under the bed, just to fit in with the Important Persons crowd.

It’s nice not to have to do that before hitting the sack, which I am about to do. Labored long and hard over recent days helping shepherd a VIPS Memo on “War With Iran.” That important piece should be posted later this morning. I hope you will read it, Arby. The CFR will not touch with a fifteen-foot Hungarian. :))

I pay attention. And I still got duped. I’m not the bad guy you think I am. Someone dropped that in a discussion I was part of. I can’t remember where. (I have hundreds of links to news sites, but am much more interested in progressive media, even though progressive media sites, like The Nation [in my view], are going over to the dark side at an alarming rate.) I’ve repeated the ‘fact’ a few times since and not once did some kind progressive correct me. It took this embarrassing incident for me to be corrected. I apologize.

Additionally, I think I may have mistaken Ray for another person. When I remember, I will return with that. I tried a search just now and nothing came up, but the way the internet is right now, that doesn’t surprise me. I won’t say that person’s name – and make the same mistake twice. I’ll confirm first.

Strayhorse

February 24, 2018 at 1:55 pm

The “intelligence” community, the ABC agencies and NGO’s providing intelligence work for the United States of America HAVE OVERSTEPPED AND VIOLATED THEIR CHARTERS! When such agencies and NGOs fund, arm and collude to commit rape, drug manufacturing and running, human and sex trafficking, experimental chemical and biological testing on it’s own unsuspecting citizens and citizens of other nations, commit murder, terrorism and genocide then THEY are the enemy of mankind and MUST BE STOPPED. The Legislative Branch of the United States MUST IMMEDIATELY defund the CIA. The DOJ and FBI MUST IMMEDIATELY investigate and prosecute all CIA actions within the continental United States and INTERPOL, and the Hague World Court must immediately investigate and prosecute those in the CIA for the above stated crimes against humanity. The CIA, other ABC agencies and NGO’s have gone ROGUE and MUST BE STOPPED!

mike k

February 24, 2018 at 3:04 pm

My first day as CIA Director, I would announce that I am dissolving it.

mike k

February 24, 2018 at 3:06 pm

Terminating the CIA would be the best thing it had ever done. It would be a tremendous benefit to the USA and the world!

mike k

February 24, 2018 at 3:08 pm

A confession of all their failures and atrocities would be icing on the cake of their long overdue departure.

mike k

February 24, 2018 at 3:09 pm

I guess I’m not holding my breath. But it was fun while the fantasy lasted……..sigh………

BobS

February 24, 2018 at 8:11 pm

Hey Ray, did you and Robert Parry discuss how when, back in the 1980s, he was trying to uncover the crimes of the Reagan administration, you were helping them commit those crimes?
Small world, ain’t it?

Hawaii guy

February 24, 2018 at 9:41 pm

I’d add on day one that a 20 man gallows be erected on the house, senate and media lawns. Let them know the hangman is coming and they should be shitting themselves.

Joe

February 24, 2018 at 11:15 pm

Totally brilliant, Ray. Thank you for pushing for the truth and sanity. You could have been raking in big bucks being a pro-war, vacuous talking head but instead you’re doing good in this world and shedding light. Thank you.

BobS

February 25, 2018 at 9:43 am

“You could have been raking in big bucks being a pro-war, vacuous talking head…”
Instead, he continued to draw a paycheck and secure a pension by helping the Reagan administration wage it’s war on civilians in Central America.

“Backstabbing punk” or someone mentioning an inconvenient truth? The crimes the CIA did in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua during the Reagan/Bush years were what got me interested in left politics in the first place. The killing of those Maryknoll nuns was a particularly despicable act in that Reagan failed to take the side of American citizens killed by some of his “vandals” (as he referred to the Contras in particular). The Oscar Romero thing was also sickening. Why would someone remain in the employee of the CIA and remain silent knowing what Ray probably knew?

Ray and crew, a bow to your courage and committment to Truth is due and I do make that bow in humility.

VIPS is the can opener for the worms to be revealed.

Will contriute forthwith.

Doc

Steve

February 26, 2018 at 1:08 pm

Mr McGovern is a breath of fresh air but the air around Langley is far too stale to stand scrutiny to fresh approaches. By all means make Mr McGovern our present CIA Director so we can rally drain the swamp. Hope President Trump is listening.

Bob Ford

March 2, 2018 at 4:46 am

I would use Ray McGovern to terminate the CIA.

Kerry McSweeney

March 6, 2018 at 6:02 pm

OMG, what a dream team!? Yes. Let’s make this happen. I read the first few lines. I know my history, I know this is going to be awesome.